EFFECT OF SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION IN THE CONTROL OF SOCIAL MISCHIEF AMONG STUDENTS OF JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ZAMFARA STATE, NIGERIA
ABSTRACT The study investigated Impact of Social Studies Education in The Control of Social Ills Among
Students of Junior Secondary Schools in Zamfara State. The population of study comprised of
74 teachers, 7,590 students and 54 junior Secondary Schools in kaura Namoda, Shinkafi and Zurmi local Government Area of Zamfara State. The random sampling techniques was used to select 15 schools and 366 students respectively while the 20 Social Studies teachers in the 15 schools were purposively selected. The research has three objectives, three research questions, and three hypotheses. The instrument used for data collection was a structural questionnaire of a modified 4 points likert scale of strongly agreed, agreed, disagreed and strongly disagreed. The instrument was validated by experts. The researcher employed face to face method in
distributing and
retrieving of the questionnaire. A total of 370 (96%) respondents properly completed and returned the questionnaire, which vas coded into Statistical Package for Social Science (SPPS) for data analysis. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was .86 which was considered adequate for the internal consistencies of the instruments. The research hypotheses were tested using the independent t-test at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the findings revealed that there is no significant difference between Social Studies and the control of social ill in junior secondary schools in Kaura Namoda, Burnin Magaji, Shinkafi and Zurmi Local Government Areas of Zamfara State. The study recommended that effectiveness of teaching social studies education can be guaranteed to curb these vices using appropriate instructional aids, qualified teachers, and good administrative leadership styles in the school. Furthermore, all stakeholders in education are to be mobilized and sensitized towards building a common front for protecting examination integrity in our schools; that the risk factor and protective factors required to be frontally confronted while teaching Social Studies education by teacher in the Junior Secondary in Nigeria.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Education is recognized as a vital and indispensable tool used for national development, because education is an aspect of human capital development. Advancement in education involves the process of increasing knowledge and skills. Every society therefore desires that its citizens are knowledgeable, that they possess appropriate educational skills and in addition they develop acceptable attitudes that will make them useful to their selves and the society in which they live. Such education should therefore be as effective as possible. In recognition of its role to national development, the National Policy on Education is therefore based on the integration of the individual into a sound and effective citizen. In
Nigeria, education happens to be the largest industry patronized by virtually every one. The
National Policy on Education (1999) re-echoes this assertion as it states that;―Education in Nigeria is no more a private enterprise but huge government venture that has witnessed progressive evolutions of Government complete and dynamic intervention and active
participation‖.
The Policy document further goes ahead and recommended that Government welcomes the voluntary agencies, community and private individuals in the establishment of schools alongside those established by the Government. This is clearly manifested in the proliferation of diversification of schools at the pre-primary, post primary and tertiary levels of our education system. Social demand for knowledge has necessitated expansion of educational opportunity for a greater majority of Nigerians. Government has demonstrated its commitment to the provision of educational opportunities for all citizens in a number of ways, namely establishment of Universal Basic Education programme (UBE), granting of
License to private individuals and Organizations for the establishment of Private Universities, establishment of more schools at various levels, provision of structures and services to accelerate and regulate the educational sectors, such as the National Primary Education Commission (NPEC), National Commission for College of Education (NCCE),
National University Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), National Commission for Nomadic Education (NCNE).
An effective education system that can accelerate development is dependent on the quality of that system. The quality of any system of education depends on the effectiveness in the management of the system. If all the resources are made available, the teachers are provided in both quantity and quality, the environment made conducive the system would certainly record success. The 1969 Curriculum Conference and subsequent conferences, seminars and workshops recognized and accepted social studies as a subject in the Nigerian Education System. Social studies is a core course in the National Policy on Education (1999) and it is required to inculcate the teaching of citizenship education. The National philosophy on education and the value to be inculcated are in harmony with the aims and objectives of social studies education as enlisted in the National Policy on Education (1999). For the philosophy to be in harmony with Nigerian National objectives it has to be geared towards self-reliance, better human relationship, individual and national efficiency effective citizenship, National consciousness, National unity as well as towards social, cultural, economic, political, scientific and technological progress. Equally, these are the main purpose and objectives of social studies. Social studies is now offered in almost all tertiary institutions (Universities and Colleges of Education).
The introduction of social studies was generally recommended for implementation in Nigerian Schools at the 1969 National curriculum conference. It was rightly pointed out by Joof (1989) said the inadequacy of other social sciences to prepare the youth for effective living in an increasingly complex world has been one of the circumstances that induced the introduction of social studies in the school curriculum. The important role of social studies education in molding the youth cannot be over emphasized especially in a multicultural society such as Nigeria. However, the prevalence of social ills in the society continues to be unabated necessitating the need to assess the impact of social studies education in the control of social ills among secondary school students. An assessment of impact of social studies education in control of social will make it more relevant to the needs of the learners and the society.
Okon (1984) posit that one of the development associated with the National Policy on Education is the pride or place it has given to social studies. The policy regarded social studies as a core subject area which all pupils in the secondary schools cannot be dispensed with in their learning activities. It deals with man in his various perspectives as Scientist, Technologist, Culture maker, Historian, the politician and man as he is being influenced by his culture and condition of contemporary world.
Succinctly put, Hisrich and Peters (1998), and Abdulganiy (2012) opine that an effective classroom teaching-learning activities couple with adequate syllabus coverage of social studies in context, when efficiently discharged is meant to assist learners cultivate virtue that would transform them into citizens with skills, competencies, attitudes, moral value and reasoned judgment to effectively live, interact, interrelate and contribute positively to the economic, social, political and cultural development of the Nigerian society. There is also consensus in these findings associated with this studies that the teaching and learning of social studies can contribute to an acquisition and sustenance of desirable characteristics of effective citizenry within a given framework.
Balyejusa in National Education Research Council (NERC, 2000) said that social studies has to be seen as a child born during the independence struggles of the indigenous patriotic
Africans who fought to rid themselves of colonial hegemony. It is a resultant from Africa‘s contact with Europe and America. It tries to make a bridge between the pre-colonial, colonial, post-colonial and the present era in its effort to forge an acceptable system from which a relevant curriculum can be drawn. He argued that it is founded on stated goals and objectives (such ascreating awareness of and sensitivity to man‘s environment, influencing man‘s attitude positively to social, cultural, economic, political values and the total environment, ensuring the acquisition of skills for solving societal and environmental problems, and equipping man with the basic understanding of the knowledge of the total environment).Its content are drawn from subject disciplines (such as social, natural science and humanities) thus revealing the nature of social studies as placing man in the centre of the universe.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Social Studies education is a programme of studies introduced into the Nigerian Educational curriculum to offer partial solutions to social and attitudinal problems facing the country. This is meant to be achieved through the inculcation of desired positive values, attitudes and social skills to learners of Social Studies in the primary, junior secondary and the teachers training colleges in Nigeria. This discipline or programme of study is meant to achieve the objectives of national unity, national consciousness, self-reliance and national reconstruction which are the basis for the national goals of education in Nigeria. These could be achieved through effective inculcation of positive values, ideas, beliefs and knowledge that can enhance the change in the behaviour of learners in the desired direction. The learners of social studies therefore, are expected to be drilled and baptized in the etiquette of social studies education, become more of a social fanatic in the principles of social studies education. Their ways of life, thinking, actions and values should be in conformity to the expectation of social studies for self-development and social reengineering. Thus expecting a society free of social and attitudinal problems if effectively and efficiently implemented. But despite the massive training and development of social studies experts to ensure successful implementation of the social studies educational objectives, the provision of roadmap (syllabus), and investment in infrastructures, locally authored text-book developments, the nation continued to experience existence, in an increasing manner of those social problems against which social studies was introduces as in the present day society, which is indicative that educational institutions still have a long way to go before being able to take full advantage of the relevance of social studies education in contemporary society. It seems that teachers of social studies education are lacking in basic knowledge and understanding of what they are required to do as teachers, school administrators are not measuring up in effective supervision of the work-force, stakeholders such as parents, teachers, and students have not developed nor shown positive attitudes required in curbing the menace of social ills in the society, nor show the discipline required to curtail continuous rise in incidences of social vices.
At this point it can be said that public perception indicator is that our educational system has not measured up to the level of expectation needed to appreciate the relevance of social studies educational objectives in promotion of man; in value orientation, and in equipping an healthy body and mind with productive skills needed towards contributing to human growth, economic development, and the eradication of a crime-free society. Thus, there is need to determine the impact instructions in social studies education in minimizing the incidence of social ills among the students of Junior Secondary Schools in Zamfara State with a view to gather necessary knowledge, facts and ideas needed for developing strategies that can enhance positive values and attitudes for the survival of individuals and the society.
1.3. Research Objectives
The general objective of this study is to determine the impact of instructions in social studies education in control of social ills among junior secondary school students in Zamfara State, Nigeria. The specific objectives are to:
- determine the impact of social studies education in controlling examination malpractices among junior secondary school students in Zamfara State.
- determine the impact of social studies education in controlling cultism among junior secondary school students in Zamfara State.
- determine the impact of social studies education in controlling drug abuse among junior secondary school students in Zamfara State.
1.4. Research Questions
In order to effectively achieve the objectives enumerated for this study, the following research questions were answered:
- To what extent does the opinion of students towards the effectiveness of Social Studies as an instrument for controlling examination malpractices differ among JSS students in
Zamfara State?
- To what extent does the opinion of students towards the effectiveness of Social Studies as an instrument for controlling cultism differ among JSS students in Zamfara State?
- To what extent does the opinion of students towards the effectiveness of Social Studies as an instrument to control drug abuse differ among JSS students in Zamfara State?
1.5. Null Hypotheses
Based on the objectives of this study, the hypotheses formulated and tested at p≤ 0.05 level of significance are.
- There is no significant difference in the perception of students towards the effectiveness of Social Studies as an instrument for controlling examination malpractice among JSS students in Zamfara State.
- There is no significant difference in the perception of students towards the effectiveness of Social Studies as an instrument for controlling cultism among JSS students in Zamfara State.
- There is no significant difference in the perception of students towards the effectiveness of Social Studies as an instrument for controlling drug abuse among JSS students in
Zamfara State.
1.6 Significance of the Study
This study on the perception of social studies education in the control of social ills among students of junior secondary school in Zamfara State is significant in a number of ways. Some of these are outlined in the section. First, the study provides valid research – based data that will bring about improvement and innovation into the programme. It is difficult to assert that a programme is doing what it is supposed to do when it has not been formally evaluated. This study will determine if the social studies curriculum is adequately implemented to achieve the desired objectives under the existing situation in Nigeria. Secondly, the research finding will be of immense benefit to policy makers and curriculum developer. The will find the result of this study a useful tool in the future development of the social studies curriculum and make policies that are beneficial to students, the schools and the entire society.
Thirdly, the findings of this study will be of significance to social studies teachers in secondary schools. These will therefore lead to amendments and improvements on existing conditions, thereby achieving the affective objective towards the realization of the objectives of social studies.
Furthermore, the students who are the consumers of the Social Studies programme in secondary schools will in no doubt be the greatest beneficiary of this study and it findings. The findings of the study will help to refine this programme and re-position it for greater efficiency thereby producing students that will be the toast of the society.
The entire society stands to benefit from the findings of the study. This study will generate orientation and re-orientation in the learners to apply aptly their high cognitive and affective skills to novel situations, all aimed at baptizing the Nigerian society polluted by indiscipline, corruption, intolerance and dishonesty- thus reinvigorating the students‘ performance. The development of any society is anchored on the production of good citizens through the inculcation of positive values, attitudes and skills provided by Social Studies education. Lastly, the study provides a frame work for similar research efforts in future.
1.7. Scope of the Study
There are fourteen local government areas in Zamfara State with three senatorial zones.
This study covers the four local government areas that make up Zamfara North Senatorial Zone in the State also, it is delimited to only students presently in Junior Secondary School
Class III and teachers with social studies basic qualifications in the 54 Junior Secondary Schools in the four local government areas. The set of respondents (Teachers and Students) chosen for the study possesses the maturity and academic dispositions needed towards understanding the fundamental issues of social ills bedeviling the Nigerian academic and social environment.
Furthermore, the study is restricted to three of the social ills (examination malpractice, drug abuse, and cultism) affecting the academic and social environments in the first-tier of our secondary school such as to nip same in the bud before it becomes uncontrollable as the students‘ progresses in their academic endeavoures.
EFFECT OF SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION IN THE CONTROL OF SOCIAL MISCHIEF AMONG STUDENTS OF JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ZAMFARA STATE, NIGERIA